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Stuman92 said..


Im liking the idea of filling the buoyancy tanks now, mine do need a few bits repaired on them as the previous owner ( an Ph-wit) cut a hole in the tank so he could fit his depth sounder through the hull.......

A deck plate should easily fix that unless its so big that you need a hatch to cover it up.

Will require an A3 size patch...............

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Stuman92 said..
Will require an A3 size patch...............

Or one of these ?


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Excellent-WHITE-440mm-x-315mm-MARINE-BOAT-DECK-ACCESS-HATCH-LID-/151451789165

A glassed plywood box or even a platic tray of the right size behind the hatch with some closed cell foam poured around it to hold it in place and you get a slightly smaller buoyancy chamber plus a nice extra storage space if you need extra storage.

That must have been some huge transducer to need a hole that size or maybe it had a hatch door which the previous owner was so attached to that he decided to keep ? Mine had the hatch doors removed from the bulkhead before I bought it, I could still see the sealant and the screw holes used to hold them in place. I couldn't find the exact size to fit the holes but since I rebuilt the bulkheads anyway it did not matter.

Yeah my plan is to add storage compartments like these on each side under the births.
Yeah in my imagination the reason the hole was so big was because his hands were gorilla size :P

was also going to add a storage compartment at the front where the two V berths are theirs a small V gap in between them, was going to fill that in with a box for storage.

spent most of yesterday climbing around inside giving it a clean out inside. got a bit fiberglass itchy so it will definitely need a good paint inside.

Yeah you need to paint it because over the decades the polyester resing has degraded with UV exposure and the chopped strands rub off the surface. I did mine and preping the area wasn't much fun. First I had to crawl inside the hulls with a high pressure cleaner and snorkeling mask to remove the loose fibres then before painting I cleaned it with wax & grease remover then went over it again with acetone before painting everything with two coats of Northane Shipshape. The floor of the hulls and the whole cabin got another 2 coats of International Perfection Undercoat since I ordered 4 Ltrs too much.
Then I painted the floor of the cabin and bridge section with greyish Perfection topcoat mixed with Intergrip to make it non slip.

Yeah not looking forward to it, contemplating using the forward hatch as a plumbed in dust extraction point into some filters.

got 4 liters to start with, of a marine enamel. My neighbor is a painter, might see if he wants to earn some drinking money and use his sprayer.

Painting is the easy bit, you are just trying to seal the old fibreglass so you won't need to roll and tip it. Brushing or rolling would seal the surface better then spraying it and will put out less fumes. A vaccum cleaner with a long suction hose makes a good fumes extractor for painting inside the boat.

If you decide to spray it I would suggest first painting the old fibreglass with fresh polyester or epoxy resin so it re-seals the fibreglasss surface properly before spraying the marine enamel primer.

Stuman, here is a pic of the port hull sealed with 2 coats of ShipShape.

Wow Harb

Looks better than New!!!!!

Made some progress on mine after work today. any good ways to make the traveling tracks watertight?

Got about 90% of the deck fittings off now. slowly getting there :)

To make tracks watertight I drill the hole undersize so that the bolt makes a thread through the deck then countersink the top of the hole to provide a recess for the Fixtech 15 sealant. I generally screw the bolts in firmly but don't tighten the nut until the next day. Not sure whether that helps too much but the theory is that the sealant is left with a bit of thickness.
If existing bolt holes are loose then I fill them with epoxy then re-drill them.

Cheers Andy

Previously someone has just smeared silicon everywhere................... not very pleasant to look at.

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Stuman92 said..

Cheers Andy

Previously someone has just smeared silicon everywhere................... not very pleasant to look at.

Silicon should be banned on any boat and the stuff sold as "Marine" grade silicon should also be banned, just an excuse to double the price.

Good luck getting the old stuff off and getting something to stick to that area, you may need to get aggressive with the sand paper.

Ive found that plastic bristle drill brush's are pretty good for getting it off, plus with a bit of methylated spirits easy going.

Got one side all cleaned tonight, plus filled all the little nicks and holes. hopefully paint tomorrow.

might be having Friday off work which will be the ducks nuts, will be a productive day.

Whats peoples thoughts on the best way to plug old drill holes.

so far ive been countersinking the hole then patching with "marine" putty.

once you start cleaning up the Hull you find all the holes that someone plugged with paint and silicon.....

Here's some examples of the Swiss Cheese...........

I would be inclined to clean the holes out with a tapered reamer and then fill with epoxy.

any recommendations on epoxy types/brands ??

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Stuman92 said..
any recommendations on epoxy types/brands ??

Make your own using epoxy resin and adding cabosil powder to the required consistency. I would prefer it to be a bit wet to ensure good adhesion to the older polyester, maybe a bit runnier than toothpaste.

Cabosil powder, where hardness and strength is required. Cabosil is fumed silica

Q-Cell, an easy to sand filler for use above the waterline (also known as micro baloons)

Phenolic microballons, used for filling and fairing below the waterline.

You could even thicken up a bit of Araldite if you only need a small amount, the 24 hour stuff never use the 5 minute stuff.

Awesome thanks for that, ill be hitting the shops trying to hunt some down.
should a good marine shop have it?

Try these, more specialised than a general marine supply store ......

www.fibreglass-resin-sales.com.au/ ....... 111 Kew Street Welshpool WA 6106 ..... 08 9470 2571

www.kirkside.com.au/L74/fibreglass-materials/ ....... 21 Roberts St Osborne Park Western Australia 6017 ..... 08 9242 2990

I see on their web page that Kirkside sell Araldite K138, an excellent super high strength epoxy, the only thing it has going against it is the dark grey colour.

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LooseChange said..

Stuman92 said..
any recommendations on epoxy types/brands ??

Make your own using epoxy resin and adding cabosil powder to the required consistency. I would prefer it to be a bit wet to ensure good adhesion to the older polyester, maybe a bit runnier than toothpaste.

Cabosil powder, where hardness and strength is required. Cabosil is fumed silica

Q-Cell, an easy to sand filler for use above the waterline (also known as micro baloons)

Phenolic microballons, used for filling and fairing below the waterline.

You could even thicken up a bit of Araldite if you only need a small amount, the 24 hour stuff never use the 5 minute stuff.

+1

+1 to Fibreglass Resin Sales in Welshpool, they have everything off the shelf if your looking to use the west system.

Yeah the Mob in Welshpool look like the go plus there 5 mins away from me :)

All Holes are cleaned and countersunk now. so tomorrow ill just keep sanding the hull and then Monday look for the Resin.

Found some of the "west" System stuff on ebay but im impatient :P

As i was waiting for the Epoxy shop to open (dont open on sundays)
I thought id work on the tiller some more, trying to get the Octopus to look like its on top of the Rudder arm.

Found this old image, looks like its from a magazine or club book
good to see a bit of the original rigging design.





Got some More Carving Done last night, trying to give the Tiller a more "natural" look with lots of curves and all
Will admit haven't done any carving for about 6 years or more so a bit rusty.

Well i thought i had plugged all the holes, then i lifted up the last few pieces of grip tape, and i found more.....
one was the size of a 20cent piece and they had filled it with silicon!!!!!!!!

ohhh well, all the resin is drying now, hopefully start painting the top deck soon, then the fun job of re attaching everything and ensuring its all watertight!!!

Well thats 1/3rd of the deck painted, looking good!!!!!!!!!!

WOW HG

Valued at 16-18k selling for 8k..........

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Stuman92 said..

WOW HG

Valued at 16-18k selling for 8k..........

There are more millionaires in Port Lincoln per capita than any where else in the world!

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Stuman92 said..
Wow Harb

Looks better than New!!!!!

Made some progress on mine after work today. any good ways to make the traveling tracks watertight?

Thanks, its the way I think it should have been built in the first place. Sorry for the late reply, I had to reinstall the OS in my laptop after a bad update.

My cat didn't have a traveler fitted, the mainsheet was rigged like the setup here www.glen-l.com/designs/sailboat/sailhdw17-21.html







only it had a ratchet block where the upright swivel block shows in the pic and cleats mounted on both seats. Works ok for cruiser so I want to try it out first before deciding if I need a traveler as I prefer it without it so I have the outboard tiller arm with the extension on. Also thinking of future mods, like replacing the 2 rudders with electric motors and the outboard with an adjustable drop rudder. I did replace the single blocks with fiddles and the eyestrap with an upright block to give me up to 5:1 purchase and got rid of the cleats on seats so I don't accidentally sit on one of them. I'll fit a sheet bag on the inside of the outboard well since now there I have plenty room there.

For the old holes I used epoxy and West System 403 to plug them except for the 2 large ones for the antenna and transducer plug where I used epoxy/cloth. I did all that after I removed all the gelcoat and before I covered it with cloth epoxy so I had no surprises. Underneath any mounted hardware I used a few stepped up layers of 936gm double bias cloth to reinforce the area so I had to drill new holes for everything. I drilled them the size of the bolt and countersunk the top then painted epoxy inside the holes to seal them. When it came to fit the hardware I got the bolts in then put plenty of polyurethane o the bolts between the hardware and hull so some of it would squeeze inside the holes and the countersunk area formed a gasket seal. On the inside I used epoxy/403 mix on the backing plates because they can stay there for good even if I have to remove the hardware. Not that it should be any need for that any time soon.

For your traveler if you have not fitted it yet I'd drill the holes slightly larger to get rid of any silicone then fill them up with epoxy/403 or similar then re-drill and countersink the holes then sealed them with epoxy. If you planning to remove the traveler in the future then butyl caulking strip is the go otherwise polyurethane sealant does a pretty good job but harder to remove. Also I would tighten the bolts right away and don't touch them again, specially if you are using polyurethane, so you don't crack the seal.